An LGBTQ+ gap opens with Spahr closure

For more than 40 years in Marin, what is now The Spahr Center has provided a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community.

Its open arms and helping hands assisted many, whether they needed support in the face of the then-deadly spread of AIDS or understanding regarding their sexuality and societal challenges.

That assistant, that haven filled with understanding, is still needed today.

That's why news that The Spahr Center has closed its doors due to financial problems raises concern — and hope that it can consolidate with another nonprofit to continue its important work.

In 1984, under the courageous leadership of the Rev. Jane Spahr, who had served as a minister of pastoral care in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, the Ministry of Light started the Marin AIDS Support Network, providing volunteers for counseling and HIV education and prevention. It also established a 24-hour helpline.

The names of the organization have changed over the years, until 2016, when a merger of the Marin AIDS Project and Spectrum LGBTQ+ Center led to the formation of The Spahr Center. It took its name from the Rev. Spahr, the presbyterian minister who in 1975 served as an assistant pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael. In 1979, she was hired as executive director of the Oakland Council of Presbyterian Churches, a position from which she was encouraged to resign because she is a lesbian.

From that post, she turned her attention to Marin. With the support of five local parishes, she began to minister for gay rights and acceptance and work to respond to the AIDS crisis.

Over the years, Spahr and the organizations she helped lead have broadened the awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ+ and have provided a hub for counseling, education and care.

Many of those initiatives merged to form The Spahr Center. But recent years have been tumultuous, marked with financial challenges and leadership changes.

In two years, the nonprofit has had four directors.

The current chief, Joe

Tuohy, announced the closure of the center and layoffs, but added that the nonprofit is talking with another Marin nonprofit about a possible merger and bringing back “all or most of our programs.” We hope he's right.

The need for The Spahr Center's programs has not gone away.

Those who rely on that support don't deserve to be cast adrift.

Tuohy says part of the center's financial problems are a result of losing its federal 340B Pharmacy designation. It allowed the center to purchase HIV medications at a reduced price. That helped generate revenue for the center's programs, which ranged from sponsoring support and discussion groups at many Marin schools to providing clean syringes and Narcan for those struggling with addiction.

The 340B Pharmacy designation has been reinstated, but it was generating only about half the revenue it had previously.

Even a “bridge” grant from the Marin Community Foundation didn't right the center's fiscal ship.

As part of its decision to suspend services, the center is transferring clients covered by federal Ryan White Care Act funds for HIV services to the county for continued care and support.

The Spahr Center's surviving leadership and county officials need to make sure that transfer is as seamless as possible for recipients.

The center's decision is, at best, disappointing. For years, under a variety of names and initiatives, it has been a safety net for many.

The need for its work, leadership and support cannot be “indefinitely suspended,” as the center's leadership framed its Feb. 16 decision.

The building blocks of service and meeting needs — of individuals and as a community — that led to the formation of the center should serve as a guiding light to quickly restore its initiatives that are needed by many.